@Devon, I admire how you're prepared to stand up in public, promoting J to people who matter, in places that matter.
Python makes me sad too. Highly revealing is its motto: "There's Only One Way To Do It". Carried through to completion, that aim would mark the end of programming language development, or indeed of coding development in any form. Of course that's exactly what IT managers would love. They view creative programming with the same horror as "creative accounting". Perhaps the J community should adopt the motto: "There's Always One More Way To Do It"? On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 7:49 PM, Devon McCormick <devon...@gmail.com> wrote: > There was some interest in finding out more and some people made > comparisons with languages with which they are more familiar. It wasn't > complete, stunned silence like my other attempt a couple of years ago even > though I tackled what I consider to be some of the most difficult parts of > J: verb rank, hooks, and forks. > > When I brought up my notes to illuminate something, one guy asked about > something he saw that I hadn't covered: how I understand the bitterness > behind Scott Locklin's essay on "The Ruins of Forgotten Empires" and why > Python makes me sad. > > Both have to do with my first slide: I started with APL 40 years ago and > figured everyone would be doing things like this in a while but have mostly > seen progress only from about two to six in that time. Python appears to > have good things and a lot of people are enthusiastic about it but, from > where I sit, it represents only a small improvement over what's gone > before. And almost no one seems aware of the beauty, simplicity and > generality of the APL insight about arrays. > > I'd be happy to give the talk, or some variant of it, any time I find a > willing audience. This particular one aimed at some of the harder parts of > J because I figured this audience to be relatively sophisticated, so I > might aim to more general for another group. It also could stand to be > shorter. > > > On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 12:44 PM, Dan Bron <j...@bron.us> wrote: > > > Glad to hear your talk came off. Did you get any feedback during the > > session? Any plans to present it again? (I wish I could have gone - I've > > been swamped recently). > > > > ----- Original Message --------------- > > > > Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] more fork examples > > From: Devon McCormick <devon...@gmail.com> > > Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 14:46:59 -0500 > > To: J-programming forum <programm...@jsoftware.com> > > > > About a dozen people suffered through my hour-and-a-half talk on J. > There > > were about 35 people registered but this turn-out was pretty good for > > blizzard conditions. You can see some of the responses here: > > http://www.meetup.com/7-Languages-in-7-Months-NYC/events/158287762/ . > > > > I've posted my slides on the J wiki - > > http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/DevonMcCormick/JTalk20140121 . I've > > started > > to annotate them but have only done the first few. > > > > > > > > On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 9:56 PM, Pascal Jasmin > > <godspiral2...@yahoo.ca>wrote: > > > > > most useful fork I know personally: > > > > > > inl =: (cocurrent@] ".@] [)"1 0 > > > > > > 'code to run in locales' inl loc1;loc2;loc3 > > > > > > the neat parts about it: > > > > > > the left verb is sideeffects only. > > > the pivot verb is monadically applied to right verb result > > > the locale list is usually a list of numeric object instances. > > > > > > ________________________________ > > > From: Devon McCormick <devon...@gmail.com> > > > To: J-programming forum <programm...@jsoftware.com> > > > Sent: Monday, January 20, 2014 12:48:59 PM > > > Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] more fork examples > > > > > > > > > I won't use this as an example for this talk. If I do elaborate on > > matrix > > > multiplication, I usually like to emphasize how this is a specific > > instance > > > of a more general concept. > > > > > > The problem I'm having now is that I'd like to use the power > conjunction > > as > > > my example but I'm placing it in a hierarchy like this: > > > > > > J Parts of Speech: a Functional Hierarchy > > > Name Argument Type Example? > > > Conjunction Verbs > > > Adverb Verbs and nouns > > > Verb Nouns > > > Noun - > > > > > > but I have not been able to come up with a good, simple example of the > > > power conjunction using a couple of verbs. The best I have so far is > > from > > > Roger's essay: "Do While" using power conjunction: > > > http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Essays/Do%20While . He uses this > > example - > > > which is pretty good for my purposes: > > > > > > (1+3*])^:(1e5&>)^:_]3 > > > > > > but does not resonate as some kind of well-known problem. I wanted to > do > > > something like this (to find the first Fibonacci number greater than > > 4e6): > > > > > > fib^:(4e6&>)^:_]1 > > > > > > but I end up writing it like this: > > > > > > (([: >: {.) , [: (fib) {.)^:(4000000 > {:)^:_]1 > > > 35 5702887 > > > > > > (so the 34th term is the one I'm looking for) but this involves too > many > > > symbols I have not yet introduced or are otherwise unfamiliar. > > > > > > Anyway, I have to finish this up in the next few hours so I can start > > > practicing it. > > > > > > > > > > > > On Mon, Jan 20, 2014 at 12:51 AM, Henry Rich <henryhr...@nc.rr.com> > > wrote: > > > > > > > If you use this as an example, be sure you can explain how +/ . *, > > which > > > > is usually matrix multiplication, applies to these operands which are > > not > > > > matrices. Mathematically it would be an error to matrix-multiply two > > > > vectors of the same shape. > > > > > > > > Henry Rich > > > > > > > > > > > > On 1/20/2014 12:14 AM, Devon McCormick wrote: > > > > > > > >> NB. Weighted mean: > > > >> > > > >> 1 10 1 ((+/ . *) % ([:+/[)) 10 2 30 > > > >> > > > >> 5 > > > >> > > > >> > > > >> On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 8:09 PM, Roger Hui < > rogerhui.can...@gmail.com > > > > > > >> wrote: > > > >> > > > >> The put down was for not so much that our system was not capable of > > > >>> sensitivity analysis, or perhaps that we did not even know what > > > >>> sensitivity > > > >>> analysis was, but that we were unwilling to admit it. > > > >>> > > > >>> ----------- > > > >>> > > > >>> The braggart claims to have Superman's powers. > > > >>> > > > >>> "Can you crush things like Superman?" > > > >>> > > > >>> The braggart took a walnut in each hand, absolutely crushed them > to a > > > >>> pulp, > > > >>> and said, "Yes, I can." > > > >>> > > > >>> "Can you see far away like Superman?" > > > >>> > > > >>> The braggart flipped down a pair of binocular glasses he was > wearing > > > and > > > >>> read out the words on the sign at the end of the block, and said, > > "Yes > > > I > > > >>> can." > > > >>> > > > >>> "Can you fly like Superman?" > > > >>> > > > >>> The braggart walked up to the roof of a 3-floor building, and > jumped > > > off > > > >>> with a flying leap! Splat! With great struggle and lots of > moaning, > > > he > > > >>> raised himself up on his elbows, and said, "Yessssh, yesh, ... > yesh I > > > >>> can." > > > >>> > > > >>> > > > >>> > > > >>> > > > >>> On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 2:16 PM, Dan Bron <j...@bron.us> wrote: > > > >>> > > > >>> I don't get the put-down (or joke). Can you explain it to me? > > > >>>> > > > >>>> -Dan > > > >>>> > > > >>>> > > > >>>> ----- Original Message --------------- > > > >>>> > > > >>>> Subject: Re: [Jprogramming] more fork examples > > > >>>> From: Roger Hui <rogerhui.can...@gmail.com> > > > >>>> Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2014 13:14:12 -0800 > > > >>>> To: Programming forum <programm...@jsoftware.com> > > > >>>> > > > >>>> Thanks for the compliment but what I really need are for y'all to > > send > > > >>>> me > > > >>>> quotes/anecdotes not yet in the list. For example: > > > >>>> > > > >>>> Once, in the early 1980s, Ken Iverson visited us in Calgary. Fred > > > >>>> Appleyard and I proudly showed off our system implemented in > direct > > > >>>> definition. Ken asked a question which is essentially, "Can you > do > > > >>>> sensitivity analysis?" We start mumbling something. Ken says, > "Can > > > you > > > >>>> touch your shoulder?", and proceeded to reach behind his neck to > > touch > > > >>>> > > > >>> the > > > >>> > > > >>>> opposite shoulder. I have yet to recover from this put-down :-). > > > >>>> > > > >>>> BTW, among the APL crowd, accusing somebody of "mumbling > something" > > is > > > >>>> > > > >>> done > > > >>> > > > >>>> by putting your hand in front of your mouth and muttering, "but ah > > eh > > > >>>> > > > >>> blah > > > >>> > > > >>>> blah ...". > > > >>>> > > > >>>> > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > >>> For information about J forums see > > http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > > >>> > > > >>> > > > >> > > > >> > > > >> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > For information about J forums see > http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > Devon McCormick, CFA > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > Devon McCormick, CFA > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > > > > > -- > Devon McCormick, CFA > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
